


Don't Hate That Which You Cannot Live Without

by uncaringrose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, I wrote this in like an hour, M/M, i want all of them to be close friends, just boys being dorky, lance and allura bein buddies, lance knows how to braid hair, like one shallura scene, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 06:22:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7790047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uncaringrose/pseuds/uncaringrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance doesn't hate Keith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Hate That Which You Cannot Live Without

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fairly quickly. It was an idea that popped into my head last night so I decided to just roll with it. Basically my writing when I just let it flow out. I still don't really know how to write romance, so this is kind of my attempt at it.

“I don’t hate you,” Lance said on one relaxing morning in the castle. Him and Keith sat in one of the lounging areas while the others were off doing who knows what. The statement was random, catching the red paladin off guard. “Just thought you should know,” Lance added with a shrug when Keith looked up at him with a confused expression. The next moment, the taller boy was gone, having walked out of the room. 

What was Keith supposed to do with this information? Him and Lance had been getting along fairly well for the last- wait. How long had they been out here anyways? Some days, it felt like they had been fighting for years, others like it had only been hours.

Standing up, Keith wandered out of the room. It was best not to think about that too much.

‘I don’t hate you.’

***

The recent mission had gone fine. Had they had a few close calls? Of course. They always did. Nobody was seriously hurt, but Blue had shut down briefly after taking the brunt force of a particularly hard blast. Lance had sat through static and darkness for a minute before Blue powered back on. However, it terrified the other paladins. 

And Lance. Well, Lance hadn’t really said much other than a quick “I’m fine” before rushing off as soon as they got back to the castle. The next day, Hunk had gone to the blue paladin’s room only to find it empty. After informing the others, they tried sending a message to his comm when he didn’t pop up in his usual places. When he didn’t respond, they began to grow worried. 

After a small discussion, they all split up to search the castle. Hunk had gotten lost once when he went on a walk, so he really pushed them to go looking for him. He described it being “spooky, and feeling like a mouse shoved into a maze but with no cheese.” Lance was smart, but he wasn’t always great with directions.

Shiro and Allura went one direction, as Allura knew the castle like the back of her hand. Pidge and Hunk went another, the green paladin equipped with a device she had constructed a while back that mapped out the entire ship. Coran stayed in the control room just in case. And Keith, after many midnight strolls, knew the layout almost as good as the Princess.

“Lance,” he called out, walking down a small corridor. It was dark, and only led to a random control panel. Already annoyed, he travelled the expanse of the area he had been assigned. Still no sign of him. “Has anyone checked his hangar?” The awkward silence that rang through the comms was embarrassing. Groaning, Keith facepalmed. “I’ll go look. If he’s not there, I think we should start panicking.” The others grunted in affirmative before he took off running. Quickly going through the process to get down to the lions.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar green jacket. Lance was standing in front of Blue, staring at her blankly. The air was tense, and Keith suddenly felt like he walked into something he wasn’t supposed to. Like seeing a friend being scolded by a parent, or walking in on your father crying. 

“I found him,” he spoke into the comm, and he heard the others let out deep breathes. “You guys go ahead and eat breakfast, we’ll be up in a bit.”

“Is everything all right, Keith,” Shiro asked, sounding like he was ready to run down there to them if need be.

“Yeah, everything's fine. Don’t worry.” With that he shut off the channel, walking uneasily over to the other paladin. “Hey,” he greeted. Lance’s eyes flickered to him for a second, but didn’t say anything. Blue seemed to be concentrated on her small pilot as well. Red purred in his head, telling him it was okay to be there. To stay. 

“Space is cold,” Lance suddenly said. His hands were in his pockets, but Keith could tell he had balled them into fists. “Like, really cold.” 

“Are you okay,” was all the other boy could choke out. Comforting someone was a foreign concept to him.

“I was floating through space with no way to stop. Of course I’m not okay.” Despite the harshness of his words, there was no venom in his voice. He sounded defeated, and Keith’s heart sank. Lance didn’t need to say it, but he was positive that minute of floating blindly reminded him of the time he got stuck in the airlock. The red paladin would be lying if he said that hadn’t scared him- no, terrified him.

“Yeah. That was a stupid question.” Awkwardly, he placed a hand on the taller boy’s shoulder. Lance finally, after seemingly ending his mental conversation with Blue, looked at Keith with all of his attention. A small smile on his face. 

“Come on, mullet man. Let’s go eat.” The words sounded a little strained, but Keith didn’t say anything. Instead he frowned, punching Lance in the shoulder he had previously been holding. “Ow!”

“It’s not a mullet,” he replies, smirking a little as the other rubbed his shoulder. It wasn’t going to bruise, he doubted it even hurt. “And shut up about my hair. Yours isn’t that great either.” 

“Excuse you! My gorgeous locks resent that!” The blue paladin pouted as they began their walk. Keith chuckled. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his upper arm. He looked at Lance out of the corner of his eye, seeing him smiling once more. However, he noticed the small bags under his eyes. Had he slept last night? “I don’t hate you.”

During breakfast, Keith and Lance were both smiling. But the red paladin didn’t really know why.

***

 

Lance seemed to finally realize Allura wasn’t interested. The horrible pick-up lines would never stop, but they became less frequent and he instead would sometimes just try to start a conversation with her. She was very pleased, and the two of them began to talk regularly. Swapping random stories, maybe even a few jokes. Once she found out he knew how to braid hair, she’d occasionally ask him to do hers when she felt like something different. Slowly, they had developed a nice friendship.

Lance had once again gotten Keith into an argument with him. They weren’t daily- or even weekly- anymore. Just sometimes Lance couldn’t seem to help himself. The red paladin stomped out of the room, fully done and tired with him. Shiro and Allura looked on disapprovingly. Hunk and Pidge had left the room halfway through the argument, and Coran was busy in the kitchen.

“Lance,” Shiro began, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why do you have to start these arguments with him? We’re teammates. We’re a crew, and we need to get along.”

“I agree with Shiro,” Allura added when Lance crossed his arms. He mumbled something under his breathe. “What was that?”

“I don’t hate him,” he said louder, looking right at her. Slowly the Princess smirked, and Shiro just even looked more confused.

“Okay,” she replied, signaling that he was allowed to leave. And he did just that, his face growing slightly red. 

“Wha-,” Shiro tried to ask, but Allura cut him off.

“He doesn’t hate him.” When the black paladin kept looking at her, she chuckled. “Like how I don’t hate you.”

Shiro covered his face, a blush slowly rising. 

***  
“I don’t understand a word you’re saying Hunk,” Lance says as his large friend ranted about a complicated piece of machinery. Wires were covering the floor of Hunk and Pidge’s “lab” as they liked to call it. Half finished projects and diagrams were on a table in the corner. One looked suspiciously like a metal replica of Coran’s mustache. Hm.

“Shhhh,” Hunk murmured as he turned a screw on a small box. “I don’t know if this thing will blow up.” Lance’s eyes widened.

“THEN WHY ARE YOU MESSING WITH IT,” he shouted, hands flying up to the back of his head.

“Lance, I’m kidding. Now shut up.” He finished screwing in the last screw, and the bulb on top of the box lit up in a soft green in his hands. “It works!”

“Cool. Green lamp.” The blue paladin rolled his eyes as he smiled. Hunk frowned at him, and it turned a soft yellow. “What the heck is that thing?”

“Okay, okay,” Hunk said excitedly, the light was a bright violet now. “You remember mood rings?”

“Yeah?”

“This is kinda like that! Except it shows how you feel about the person you’re talking to. I got the idea after we went to that one planet where their eyes changed color depending on their feelings about you.”

“Oh yeah. No wonder some of them were so angry. Rejection was so easy to spot.” Lance shuddered at the memory.

“Yeah. So, anyways, I thought it would be a fun project.” Hunk held it out proudly. “Violet means approving, green is neutral, yellow is annoyed, blue is comfortable, black is hate, and red is loving. Here, try it!” He placed it in Lance’s hands, and it lit up in a soft red. “Aww, bro. Love you too.”

“Aww, thanks, bro.” They both laughed. It didn’t need to be said that it was platonic love. Suddenly, the door to the lab opened and Keith stepped in. He looked around a moment before finally spotting the two others in the room.

“Hey, Coran wanted me to tell you dinner's ready,” he informed, leaning against the door frame.

“K. We’ll be right there,” Lance replied, giving the device back to the yellow paladin. But not before it flashed a bright, vivid red. “C’mon Hunk!” 

The bigger pilot stared down at the device for a moment, but it had already changed to blue. He smiled before placing it down on the desk and walking after the two other boys, watching as they bickered. Both of their faces were slightly flushed, and he wondered if he could trick Keith into holding the device sometime, maybe when he was talking to Lance.

After all, he deserved to know he didn’t hate him.

***

Keith’s comm had been damaged after he had managed to sneak into the ship they had their sights on. It was a prisoner ship, taking who knows how many people to a work camp. Pidge was hoping there was some logs in their database that could tell them where her family was, and Allura wanted to liberate those inside. 

It was supposed to be simple. Hunk and Shiro were distracting the main forces from the front with their lions. Keith, Pidge and Lance were then supposed to sneak on board from different spots to cover more area in the short amount of time they had before more ships showed up. Mostly, him and Lance were in charge of releasing prisoners, getting them to the escape pods, while also taking out any guards they saw so they wouldn’t find Pidge. It was one ship. An easy mission.

At least, it would have been if a guard hadn’t managed to hit Keith’s helmet in the exact spot that disabled his comm. Honestly, he was equal parts angry and impressed. Now he had to find Lance or Pidge so they wouldn’t worry, all the while fulfilling the mission. He was going to need a nap afterwards.

Shiro was most certainly going to freak out as soon as he found out he couldn’t contact him. He could feel it in his gut as he opened up cells, more and more aliens running behind him, that something was surely to go wrong. As soon as he opened all the cells in his area, he booked it to the escape pods, hoping Lance would get there at the same time.

Alas, he wasn’t. The feeling in his gut worsened as he instructed the aliens to leave. Luckily, quite a few of them knew how to operate the pods and he was allowed to go looking for the blue paladin. He took out four guards before he finally saw a streak of blue, followed by a loud grunt of pain. Keith dashed around the corner to find Lance shooting at ten drones while twenty or so aliens hid behind him. Taking out his bayard once more, the red paladin went in swinging. He cut down three while Lance shot down two more. The other five ran at Keith, deciding it was best to just take him out first. He heard Lance shouting, but wasn’t able to figure out what.

His arms ached as he swung upwards and to the side, cutting another down before one shot him the side. His armor protected him from receiving an open wound, but he was sure it would leave a mark. And was that a crack he heard? Oh, he didn’t want to think about that. Two more drones went down before his vision began to blur and he was suddenly struck from behind. 

The next thing he knew, Keith was stumbling out of a cryo pod. His head was spinning faintly, and he felt a pair of hands grip his shoulders. Lance stood in front of him, looking at him up and down, like he was making sure the pod fixed everything. Then he let out a heavy sigh and led Keith over to a chair. The others were nowhere to be seen, and fear shot through the red paladin.

“Don’t worry, the others are fine. They’re looking over the data Pidge collected and tending to the prisoners.” Lance laughed softly. “So, I guess I’m the only one here to greet you.” He clamped a hand onto Keith’s shoulder, looking serious again. “You scared all of us, you know. I was trying to reach you on the comms to tell you more drones were headed your way, but you seemed to have ran past them or something. But before you got there I thought they had managed to get to you, and then I was attacked by like fifteen of ‘em.”

“Sorry,” Keith murmured softly, rubbing his hands together. They were a little numb from being in the pod so long. “Thanks for waiting for me. Seriously.” The taller boy flushed slightly, and Keith smiled.

“No problem. Like I said, I don’t hate you.” More color rose to his cheeks, and the red paladin laughed. “Let’s go see the others.” Keith took an offered hand, and gripped it tighter when Lance tried to walk away. 

“I don’t hate you either,” he replied. 

After all, it’s hard to hate someone you love.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to get over a writing block, so feel free to suggest something!


End file.
